


Hey, Asshole!

by AimeeLouWrites



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Cloud Strife is a Disaster, Digital Art, Gen, Genesis Mystery Theater, Genesis Rhapsodos Does What Genesis Rhapsodos Wants, Humor, Illustrations, Okay maybe there's some crack but it seems to be taken more or less seriously, Platonic Cuddling, Protective Zack Fair, Putting My Grubby Little Paws All Over Canon For Fun and Profit, Slightly Feral Time Traveler Cloud, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Unreliable Narrator, Well this went in a direction I wasn't expecting, comedy but not quite crack I think?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26618968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AimeeLouWrites/pseuds/AimeeLouWrites
Summary: A time-traveling Cloud takes the direct route in fixing Genesis and Angeal's degradation. This backfires immediately.
Relationships: Angeal Hewley & Genesis Rhapsodos, Angeal Hewley & Genesis Rhapsodos & Sephiroth, Genesis Rhapsodos & Cloud Strife, Zack Fair & Angeal Hewley, Zack Fair & Cloud Strife
Comments: 537
Kudos: 1288
Collections: I’ve Never Played FFVII But These Fics Make Me Wanna Play, fics that cured ser's depression





	1. The Direct Route

**Author's Note:**

> From a prompt by [im-totally-not-an-alien](https://im-totally-not-an-alien.tumblr.com/)  
>  on Tumblr:
> 
> Final Fantasy 7 prompts # 45:  
> 8\. Time traveler Cloud casually curing Angeal and Genesis's degradation with vials of Aeriths holy water.  
> He feels betrayed when they try to drag him to Shinra, despite their benevolent intentions.

“Hey, asshole!”

Genesis turned instinctively at the shout, Angeal pausing along with him. Verbal abuse from the public wasn’t exactly  _ unknown _ to him—no one with significant notoriety will ever be without their detractors, deserved or not—but he was a little startled to have someone shouting at him so brazenly, in broad daylight, in one of the more affluent sectors, while he and Angeal made their way back to the Tower after having lunch.

He opened his mouth to respond, zeroing in on an approaching blond man. A  _ very quickly _ approaching blond man. “Wh—”

Genesis never had a chance to finish the question. With the speed only an enhanced person can have, the blond seized a fistful of his hair, yanked his head back, and poured a small vial of water into his mouth. He swallowed out of sheer surprise.

Angeal made an alarmed noise, immediately lashing out to get the blond off of Genesis, and was deftly flipped into a headlock for his troubles. Genesis was still occupied with regaining his balance as the blond man tipped a second vial down Angeal’s throat.

Then the man unceremoniously released his hold and walked off, as if they had exchanged no more than a handshake.

The whole thing had taken place in the span of maybe five seconds. Angeal touched a hand to his mouth as he straightened, bewildered. Genesis ran his tongue over his teeth. If there had been anything but water in that vial, he would have been able to taste it. But why in the Goddess’s name would someone assault two SOLDIERs to…what, hydrate them? Why would someone enhanced—

_ Someone enhanced. _

Genesis looked at Angeal. Angeal looked back. Without a single word, they both took off after the blond man. 

He’d managed to get a fair distance away, but he also seemed utterly unconcerned with making any kind of actual escape. He was just... leaving. Casually. Fortunately for them, his shock of bright gold hair was unmistakable  _ (and about as ridiculous as the wild mane of Angeal’s student, in Genesis’s opinion). _

“Excuse me!” Angeal called, his tone somewhere between bewildered and angry. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Genesis was a little surprised when the blond man actually turned toward them, even if he did keep walking backward. He had a preternatural ability to dodge oncoming pedestrians without looking back. “What?” asked the man, seeming genuinely shocked to be questioned in such a way. His head cocked to the side like a curious little bird. “I’m solving problems before they escalate. Can’t you feel the difference?”

Then he pointed to Genesis’s shoulder—the shoulder that  _ wasn’t healing, _ which he hadn’t told anyone about yet,  though he had decided to go to Hollander tomorrow . The Commander barely kept himself from bristling defensively, which was absurd because how could this random whelp off the street know something he’d never even told Ange—

Wait. 

His shoulder.

_ His shoulder. _

It wasn’t  _ hurting. _ One hand shot up to grab it while the other gripped Angeal’s bicep, just for something to anchor him as he reeled in shock. Had the little blond  _ healed _ him?  _ How? _ It was impossible for some stranger to even have known there  _ was _ a problem, much less how to solve it!

The blond cracked a crooked grin, apparently following Genesis’s train of thought perfectly. “Yeah, see? ‘S all good now. Bye.” Then he offered a sloppy two-finger salute and turned back around, intent on continuing his power walk into parts unknown.

Genesis dropped his hands and closed the distance in three long strides, seizing the blond’s arm without a thought.  _ “My friend, do you fly away now?”  _ he quoted breathlessly. It wasn’t quite the proper context, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He  _ needed  _ this man to come with him back to ShinRa, just so he would have enough time to wrap his head around the whole thing and offer an appropriate response. “Please, hold for a moment, stranger.”

“Genesis?” Angeal asked cautiously. It wasn’t often that Genesis asked  _ nicely. _

The blond frowned up at him, slowing to a stop. The crowd flowed around them like a river around and boulder, though the three hardly paid them any mind. “Why? Take it and go. I’ve got important things to do.” This close, Genesis could see the gleaming mako blue of the man’s eyes. There were even unmistakable strands of  _ green _ threaded around his pupil.

“I don’t recognize you, but you must be a SOLDIER,” Genesis said contemplatively, keeping his grip firm. He tapped his chin with his free hand, thinking of every Second Class he knew. There was far too much mako in the blond’s eyes for him to be a Third, but Genesis knew all the other Firsts on sight. “Who are you? What cohort? I suppose you must be one of the ones who are overly fond of those ridiculous helmets.”

The blond looked at him strangely, and as Genesis became less distracted he started to notice how wild and unkempt the man looked: dirt-smudged, hazy-eyed, and now that they were standing still Genesis could pick up the faint coppery tang of blood, both dried and fresh. Honestly, he looked like he’d just returned to Midgar from a month-long solo extermination mission in the wilderness. The circles beneath his eyes were deep and dark, a sharp contrast to the brightness of his irises. 

“I’m not a SOLDIER,” the blond said, as if such a suggestion was absurd on its face.

Genesis frowned at him, puzzled that he would even attempt to claim such a thing. “There’s no use in lying, dear. I can see the mako in your eyes. I know my reputation likely precedes me, but I swear to you I’m not angry. I don’t know  _ how  _ you...well, suffice it to say, you have nothing to fear from me.”

Angeal shot Genesis a very pointed look—the one that said  _ we’re going to be talking about this later _ —but he turned his attention to the blond and seemed to see exactly what Genesis did. “Are you alright, SOLDIER?” he asked, putting his hand on the arm opposite to the one Genesis was still holding. “You look like you haven’t slept in weeks.”

The blond blinked slowly, glancing down at the hand on his bicep. He seemed to know exactly what Genesis did: that it was there both as reassurance and in preparation for restraint. He was  _ certainly _ a SOLDIER if he knew Angeal that well, most likely one of the men in Angeal’s section.

“Oh,” the blond said after a second’s delay, sounding oddly surprised. “Sleep. I  _ knew  _ I was forgetting something.”

Genesis and Angeal exchanged another glance. “Ooookay,” said Angeal, drawing the word out. His tone turned coaxing. “I’m still not entirely sure what’s happening here, but why don’t we all go back to the Tower and get you seen to?”

“No thanks,” said the blond. “Let me go, please. I’m busy.”

Oh, how precious. He really thought he was going to get away that easily.

Genesis smiled charmingly. Anyone who worked with him for any length of time knew to be afraid of that smile. It meant, quite plainly, that Genesis had decided on something and there was not a single earthy measure anyone could take to dissuade him. “I’m sure you are, dear, but believe me when I say that you’ll feel much more capable once you’ve had a chance to rest. Why, you may even accomplish your... _ tasks _ ...more efficiently!”

With Angeal’s help, he started to drag the squirming man back toward the Tower. SOLDIER strength or not, running away turns out to be quite difficult when your feet aren’t touching the ground. Who knew?

“Put me down!” the man demanded, though he sounded far more offended than truly angry. “I’m busy, you assholes!”

“Of course,” Genesis agreed pleasantly, his grip like iron. The blond was  _ very  _ sturdy for someone of his stature and build, but keeping him from getting any leverage to squirm free took only a fraction of the Commander’s strength. He really was quite small. Come to think of it, Genesis didn’t know of any SOLDIERs who were quite so... _ fun sized. _ “We won’t take up much of your time, I promise.”

“This is what I get for doing Zack a favor,” the blond muttered irritably, straining to catch the toes of his boots on the concrete in the vain hope of resistance. Angeal shot him a sharp look. Genesis made a mental note. One of the puppy’s many friends, perhaps? But what did he mean by  _ a favor? _ How had Zack known?  _ Had _ Zack known?

Genesis shook his head to dismiss the thoughts for now. He didn’t care if he had to let the mysterious blond crash on his couch and use his personal shower. Hell, he didn’t care if he had to cook the man a meal himself—Genesis wasn’t going to let the source of his miraculous healing out of his sight until he got  _ answers. _


	2. Loopy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud reaps the consequences of his absentmindedness; Genesis and Angeal start picking up on some clues, but it really doesn't do much more than baffle them

Cloud was miffed— _miffed!_ —at the two men currently dragging him toward ShinRa Tower like a particularly defiant sack of potatoes. He actually listens to Zack’s impassioned pleading for their lives and they repay his generosity by kidnapping him?

_Rude._

He was, admittedly, pretty exhausted. He hadn’t really thought about it until Hewley had asked. Maybe he could use this as an excuse to get some sleep _(he felt a little embarrassed that he’d forgotten about that)_ before getting back to work. It wasn’t like they could actually keep him anywhere if he didn’t want to stay _(current situation notwithstanding, it wasn’t like he was trying very hard),_ especially when they had no idea who he was. For Gaia’s sake, they thought he was a rank-and-file SOLDIER! Giving them the slip would be child’s play, and sleeping on a bed and/or couch sounded pretty nice, especially if it inconvenienced them in some way. Seemed karmic.

_Counterpoint,_ said a voice that sounded like himself back when he thought he was Zack, _Sephiroth is probably going to be there. He’s friends with Hewley and Rhapsodos._ The voice paused and added dubiously, _I think._

Rhapsodos spoke up and pulled him out of his musing. They were a lot closer to the Tower than they had been a second ago. He must have zoned out. “Out of curiosity,” said the Commander, “why did you feel the need to verbally assault us upon our first meeting? You don’t seem nearly as angry as I would have expected from your initial...greeting.”

Cloud blinked slowly, kicking his legs in absentminded protest as the two Firsts hauled him through the front door of the ShinRa Tower. “Never met a person who wouldn’t turn right around when they thought they were being insulted,” he explained. He’d needed their immediate attention for his plan to work. And it _had_ worked, which was nice. Not many things had gone smoothly since he’d gotten here.

...actually, this probably didn’t count as ‘going smoothly’ either, considering he was being toted about like a recalcitrant child.

Hm.

“I see,” said Rhapsodos, though he didn’t sound particularly enlightened.

They garnered quite a few stares as Cloud was hauled across the lobby and into an elevator, but no one seemed inclined to question anything, which Cloud thought was very rude of them. Honestly, his boots were pretty blatantly not touching the ground! Didn’t anyone have a sense of justice or fairness or something?

Then again, he probably would have walked quickly in the opposite direction if he’d seen something similar during his Infantry days. He wasn’t entirely sure, though. Those memories had been soupy even before his tumble into the past and they were downright incoherent now.

_You weren’t very confrontational,_ the voice that sounded like actual-Zack agreed.

_Shut up, Zack,_ he thought.

As they stood ( _they_ stood; his feet were still a solid three inches from the ground) in the elevator, Cloud suddenly realized that this was the first time he’d stopped moving in...uh...a few days, at least. Maybe a week or two ( _he’d been busy trying to avert the end of the world, sue him_ ). The sudden stillness was starting to make him sleepy.

_Really_ sleepy. As in, _oh-shit-am-I-secretly-narcoleptic_ type sleepy, where everything buzzes and the corners of your vision start to go dark. Clearly, forgetting to sleep had been a poor decision on his part.

_Oops,_ he thought, a bit too late as his body made an executive decision and everything went dark.

* * *

There was no warning before the blond man suddenly slumped between them, but they both felt as his muscles went slack and his heart rate _plunged_ . For one wild second, Genesis was convinced he had somehow managed to accidentally kill his miracle healer _before he got answers._ He and Angeal both stared, wide-eyed, at the limp body held suspended between them.

Then a soft snore drifted from the man’s mouth, and the situation became so ridiculous that Genesis couldn’t stop the slightly-hysterical giggle that bubbled up in his throat. “ _Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess,_ ” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

Angeal muttered something about stupid teenagers ignoring their physical limitations and hauled the man up into a bridal carry. The blond didn’t so much as twitch at the sudden change in elevation.

“You think he’s a teenager?” Genesis asked curiously. He’d assumed early to mid twenties, though the man _did_ look comically tiny contrasted against Angeal’s broad frame.

“Most SOLDIERs are younger than us,” Angeal reminded him, hefting the blond a little so that his head fell into a comfortable position against his shoulder. Fortunately, he hadn’t worn his pauldrons out to lunch. “And his face is kind of...squishy, don’t you think?”

* * *

Genesis peered closer, pushing wild blond bangs out of the way to get a clear view. Asleep, the man somehow managed to look even _more_ raggedy and unkempt, but there was also an undeniable youthful softness in his face. “Huh,” he said. “I see your point.”

When the elevator stopped, they stepped out onto the non-emergency medical floor and approached the front desk. The nurse on duty looked from them to the blond and back. She raised an eyebrow. 

Angeal cleared his throat. “We’ve got a SOLDIER collapsed from overexertion who needs attention.”

“He’s bleeding, or was recently,” Genesis added helpfully.

She nodded and typed something into the computer. “What’s his name?”

The two Firsts exchanged a glance. “...we don’t know, actually,” said Angeal.

She glanced between them, then narrowed her eyes a little, clearly used to dealing with SOLDIER bullshit. “Class?”

Angeal smiled sheepishly. Genesis just smirked and stood back, enjoying his friend’s discomfort. “Ah, no idea about that either. Most likely Second.”

“Is there anything you _can_ tell me about the patient?” she asked archly.

“He said he had, and I quote, “forgotten” about sleep. He was fine until we got into the elevator, if a little loopy, but he suddenly fell unconscious.” As if in agreement, the blond snored softly.

“I see,” said the nurse in a flat voice. She checked something on her screen. “Well, take him to room three and I’ll send a doctor in for a general assessment.”

Angeal never got a chance to respond. As if a switch had been flipped, the blond startled awake and blurted out _“nodoctors!”_ before vaulting over Angeal’s shoulder like a damned gymnast. He hit the ground hard and tried to grab the buster sword harnessed to Angeal’s back, but Genesis managed to snatch his wrists before he could successfully arm himself. 

“ _Goddess,_ calm down!” he said, thoroughly taken aback.

“No!” said the blond, and suddenly Genesis agreed with Angeal: this was a teenager. “Let go of me!”

“Woah, hey” said Angeal, stepping out of sword-grabbing range and holding his hands up. He looked just as startled as Genesis felt. “What’s wrong?”

“I save your life and you try to foist me off on _scientists?_ ” said the blond in a supremely offended tone as he wrestled with Genesis. He was so offended that he actually paused with one boot planted on Genesis’s thigh, holding his weight off the ground and using the Commander’s grip on his wrists as a counterbalance, just to stare accusingly at Angeal.

Genesis abruptly let go of his wrists and the blond went tumbling to the ground with a startled yelp. “Oh for heaven’s sake, we are not _foisting you off on scientists,_ you little twit,” Genesis snapped, scowling down at the boy. “You are receiving medical attention for severe exhaustion. This isn’t even the emergency ward! Someone as careless as you has surely been here before, you should know that we are nowhere near the science floors!”

Honestly, ‘foisting him off,’ did the blond think they were _savages?_ No SOLDIER worth their salt would so much as suggest a comrade go to the science floors unless death was imminent. How terribly insulting!

The blond narrowed his eyes, getting up off the floor and backing out of easy grabbing range. “I don’t _remember_ ever coming here,” he said slowly, suspicious and a little confused. “I guess I probably did at some point…”

The nurse, who’d looked vaguely entertained until this point, suddenly turned serious. “Are you having trouble with your memory, SOLDIER?” Genesis could understand her concern. Any kind of injury sufficient to induce amnesia in someone enhanced was worth worrying about.

The blond blinked at her, derailed wholly from whatever train of thought he’d been confused by, and then _laughed._ “Not a SOLDIER,” he asserted for the second time, “but my memory’s been put through a blender like...three times, plus the Lab. Ti—ah, a friend of mine always said she was surprised I remembered anything at all.”

_The Lab._ Genesis exchanged a glance with Angeal. Well, that would certainly explain his reaction to the word ‘doctor.’ And his odd behavior. Potentially, it might also explain why he insisted he wasn’t part of SOLDIER, though that _would_ beg the question of why he was roaming Midgar unsupervised.

“Okay,” said Angeal, apparently thinking along the same lines, “how about we go up to Genesis’s apartment, then? Would you accept medical attention there?”

The blond squinted suspiciously, but he was starting to sway in place as his adrenaline rush wore off. “No doctors?” he asked, bearing an uncanny resemblance to a wary five-year-old.

Angeal’s lips twitched a little, and Genesis felt reassured that his friend found the situation just as absurd as he did. “No doctors,” Angeal solemnly promised their mysterious assailant, somehow managing to keep a straight face. 

The blond _(goddess, how had they_ still _not gotten his name?)_ searched his face, then Genesis’s, before nodding slowly. “‘Kay,” he agreed, and promptly buckled to the floor.

It took every bit of Genesis’s enhanced speed to keep the kid from cracking his skull open on the tile. He blew out a startled breath, feeling the SOLDIER heat of the blond’s skin seep through his glove. “Well,” he drawled, glancing over his shoulder at Angeal. “I stand corrected. He is _certainly_ a teenager.” He pulled the blond over his shoulders into a fireman’s carry, unconcerned with his comfort. He was unconscious, it wasn’t like he would care that Genesis’s pauldrons were digging into his torso.

Angeal rolled his eyes and headed for the stairwell. “I’ll get my first-aid kit and meet you at your apartment,” he said.

Genesis hummed in agreement and stood. With any luck, the strange boy would be more inclined to cooperate once he was well-rested and out of sight of any medical professionals. And if he wasn’t...well, Genesis would figure something out.

* * *

**Bonus**

* * *


	3. Pretty Please (With a Cherry on Top?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud encounters Sephiroth, or maybe Sephiroth encounters Cloud, and everyone is left with more questions than they started with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I replaced my sketch illustration from chapter 2 with a full-render illustration, go look at it!

Sephiroth stepped into the elevator two floors above medical, no doubt on his way to a late lunch in his apartment, as he was wont to do. Genesis smiled at him, admittedly a bit more warmly than he had since his shoulder had been injured. “Good afternoon, my friend,” he said.

Sephiroth blinked slowly, first at his smile, then at the grubby unconscious teenager slung over his shoulders like an unusually eccentric fur stole. “Hello, Genesis,” he responded politely, and then fell pointedly quiet.

They stared at each other and rode in silence for a few more floors. Genesis’s smile slowly widened. Normally he would have been too impatient to wait for Sephiroth to _ask,_ but today he was feeling like the cat who got the cream.

Something of his mood must have been plain on his face, because Sephiroth finally sighed and relented in their little battle of wills. “Why do you have an unconscious man over your shoulders?”

“I’m taking him back to my apartment of course,” Genesis said jovially. By his ear, the blond snored softly.

Sephiroth gave him a Look. “...for what purpose?”

Alright, he was definitely too impatient to draw this out any more. “This darling, idiotic little teenager has done me a substantial favor—an impossible one, in fact. I am doing him a favor in return by making sure he doesn’t drop dead of poor life choices.”

“Doing _him_ a favor,” Sephiroth repeated dryly, not buying his bullshit for even a second. “And why didn’t you simply drop him off in medical?”

The elevator came to a stop at their shared floor as Genesis waved a hand. “Oh, we tried, believe you me. _Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess._ He turned out to be quite wary of any and all doctors, possibly due to some time in an unspecified lab.”

This caught Sephiroth’s attention. “I see,” he said neutrally. “Would you mind if I aided you in tending to him, then?”

“If you wish,” Genesis said magnanimously.

Sephiroth followed him to his apartment, steadying the sleeping teen across his shoulders while Genesis fished through his pockets for his keycard to unlock the door. Angeal emerged from his apartment in time to follow them in with the industrial-sized medical kit he meticulously maintained.

“Sephiroth,” he greeted. “Did you volunteer or did he rope you into this?”

“Volunteered,” said Sephiroth as Genesis none-too-gently dumped the blond on his couch. “You will excuse me for being concerned for any SOLDIER who catches Genesis’s eye.”

Angeal laughed, but Genesis blew his bangs out of his eyes and said “well, he _insists_ he is not a SOLDIER, so clearly you have no reason to be concerned.”

Sephiroth blinked at that. “Oh? You said he spent time in the Labs.”

“That is the mystery of the moment,” Genesis agreed, flipping the teenager over onto his back and starting to unbutton his shirt. He paused after a long second, halfway down the shirt, and frowned. “This is...an infantry uniform,” he said slowly. It was discolored and worn and bloodstained, but now that he’d seen it, it was unmistakable.

Angeal frowned too, pausing in the middle of pulling out antiseptic and gauze. “What? Why is he in an infantry uniform?”

“I do not recognize him from the ranks of SOLDIER,” Sephiroth said. “Though it is possible he simply prefers to wear the helmet at all times.”

Genesis rolled his eyes as he stripped the shirt all the way off. “He _has to be_ a SOLDIER,” he said. “Look, come see his eyes. They have so much mako that there’s _green_ in them.” Sephiroth came to crouch beside him. He tossed the shirt over the back of the couch and used a thumb to lift one of the blond’s eyelids.

The blue-green iris, hazed over with sleep, immediately focused on Sephiroth.

The teenager screamed at the top of his lungs and, in a feat of superhuman dexterity, got a hand beneath him and vaulted backward off the couch. His boots hit the tile with a solid _THWACK._

“Goddess!” Genesis exclaimed. Had the kid been an _actual_ godsdamned gymnast before joining ShinRa? This was rapidly becoming a theme. “What the fuck!”

The boy blurt out something that Genesis didn’t catch, reaching for a sword he didn’t have. When his hand grasped empty air he blanched and dove for cover behind the side of the couch furthest from them. The wild blond spikes of his hair poked up just enough to be visible, like shoots of wheat.

The whole group stood in bewildered silence for a long moment, Genesis and Sephiroth still crouched in place, Angeal frozen with one hand partially raised toward the couch, and the boy himself stock-still behind his cover. 

Finally, the teenager’s voice drifted forth to break the silence. “...why’m I shirtless?” he asked, baffled.

Genesis pinched the bridge of his nose and stood, Sephiroth following him. _“Infinite in mystery,”_ he muttered. “Truly _infinite_ in mystery. I took your shirt off, kid.”

Bright, bright blue eyes poked up over the couch and blinked at him curiously. “Why?”

“Because you need medical attention, you twit.”

“Uh.” He ducked for a moment, and there was a sound as if he was patting himself down before he popped back up and said “no, I’m fine.”

“You are _not_ _f_ —okay, you know what, you’re going to pass out as soon as that adrenaline wears off anyways, so believe what you want. Would you like to tell me why the sight of Sephiroth startled you so?”

The blond’s eyes widened in realization and flicked to Sephiroth. Again, one hand jerked up to seize a sword he didn’t have. His eyes narrowed to slivers. “Oh, wait a second.” His head popped up a little more so that his nose and mouth were visible. “You’re not nutso yet, are you?”

Sephiroth blinked. “Excuse me?”

The boy nodded, satisfied. “Good. Forgot, for a second there. Everything’s been all spinny for a while, it’s hard to keep track.” He perked up suddenly. “Oh! Since you’re here—” He moved in a flash, leaping from the floor to the arm of the couch, then springing at Sephiroth as adroitly as any cat. Glass glinted in his hand.

Unfortunately for him, he no longer had the element of surprise. Genesis snatched him out of the air and slammed him back down onto the couch. He landed with an indignant _oof!_

“Would you _please_ stop assaulting First Class SOLDIERS!” Genesis snapped, exasperated. It really said something about how his day had been going that he said such a thing with _exasperation_ rather than any other emotion, but he wasn’t particularly willing to examine that thought further.

“Assaulting?” Sephiroth repeated, a very faint trace of alarm in his voice. 

Genesis waved him off and stared down the pouting blond. “How about you try asking _nicely_ this time?”

The teenager blinked like he hadn’t thought of that before. “Oh,” he said. Even the brief stillness of being forced back onto the couch was enough that his eyes were starting to close again. Genesis wondered if he was in the hallucinating stage of sleep deprivation. It would certainly have explained a lot. “Okay. Drink this please?” He held out the little vial and wiggled it enticingly, as if he was trying to bait a cat.

Sephiroth gingerly took it. “What is in it, and why would I drink it?” He seemed a bit bewildered as to why he even bothered to take it in the first place. The boy seemed to have that effect on everyone.

“Water,” said the blond through a yawn, sagging back into the couch cushions now that his goal had been accomplished.

“Just water?”

“Mmm, yeah,” he slurred, rapidly dropping off again. “Special, though. She gave it...to...me…”

Genesis leaned in interestedly. “Who?”

At the twilight edge between sleep and wakefulness, the boy spoke in a voice so soft that it strained even their enhanced hearing. “The...healer…” And then he was back to snoring softly, sprawled across the couch at a very uncomfortable-looking angle.

Angeal dragged a hand down his face. “What a weird kid,” he muttered. When the other two Firsts stared interestedly at the vial of theoretically-just-water, he rolled his eyes and moved to start tending to the blond’s injuries.

Sephiroth was still holding the vial between two fingers, as if it was likely to explode at any second. “Even if it is just water,” he said slowly, “why would I drink it?” Unspoken went _this is the strangest assassination attempt I have ever seen._

Genesis shrugged. “I am _far_ more interested in this ‘healer,’ but when he assaulted us earlier with similar vials they truly did contain only water. Water with miraculous healing powers, but water still.”

“And there is another matter,” said Sephiroth, eyeing him, “what is this about ‘assaulting’?” 

Genesis frowned. That was what he wanted to focus on? Not the _miraculous healing_ part? He didn’t think he was ever going to understand his silver-haired friend.

“Kid blindsided us and got some water down our throats,” Angeal said bluntly as he started cleaning the numerous patches of blood and unidentifiable debris from the teenager’s pale skin. “Apparently it did something to Genesis, but I didn’t feel—holy _shit_ this kid’s got scars!”

“Most people have scars, my fri—oh. Oh, goddess.” Genesis lost his sarcastic train of thought when he saw what had so thoroughly startled Angeal. There were...a _lot_ of scars. Far more than what he would expect even on a SOLDIER.

“No, hold on,” said Sephiroth, still caught on the earlier subject. “What was that about a _teenager_ successfully introducing a foreign substance into your systems?”

Genesis pointed indignantly. “Does that look like a normal teenager to you!”

“That looks more like a feral cat plucked from a dumpster than anything else,” he replied flatly.

Genesis opened his mouth and then closed it. No, that was fair. 

Angeal shook his head and stood. “I’m going to call Zack and get him up here,” he said. “We’ll see if it’s one of his friends.” He pulled out his PHS and went out into the hall to call his apprentice, pausing at the door. “Make sure he doesn’t sustain more grievous bodily harm while I’m gone, please.”

Genesis sniffed. Honestly, it was like Angeal had no faith in him at all.

* * *

**Bonus**

* * *


	4. Positive Identification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack provides some answers, but if the Firsts think it will make things any clearer they are quickly proven mistaken

Zack picked up on the second ring, his exuberant voice just slightly too loud over the speakers. “‘Geal!” he enthused. “What’s up? Need something?”

“Hello, Zack,” Angeal said with patient amusement. “I need you to come join me in Genesis’s apartment as soon as possible.”

“Oh? Uh, sure, I’ll head up now. What’s going on?”

“Hm, let me ask you a question first. Do you have any blond friends in SOLDIER or the Infantry?”

There was a long pause. “Yeah, I’ve got a couple of blond SOLDIER friends—James, Titus, Adeen...uh, Kunsel’s kinda dirty-blond, don’t tell him I spilled the beans on that…”

“And in the infantry?”

Another very long pause. “I...had one.” His voice was suddenly subdued enough to make Angeal blink in surprise. “Cloud. Good kid, wanted to be in SOLDIER but he needed a bit of time to grow, you know? Smart, and  _ strong, _ but he was tiny. I told him to keep trying. He was really something. He, uh...he vanished a few weeks ago on a mission. Got declared KIA cuz no one really cares about infantry grunts. I didn’t even find out until I—” His words stumbled to a halt.

Angeal frowned at the depth of the grief in his apprentice’s voice. “Can you...describe him for me?”

“Sure, he had these big blue eyes, like  _ sad _ eyes man, if he wasn’t so withdrawn all the time he’d be—he  _ would have been _ a real ladykiller...uh, he had this ridiculous blonde hair, really light gold, and it stuck up all over the place. I think I called him chocobo-butt once and he sincerely tried to strangle me.” Zack laughed, but it was unsteady.

_ No, _ thought Angeal.  _ It can’t be. A few weeks isn’t enough time to enhance someone like that… _

“Why did you need me to…?” Zack asked, trailing off uncertainly.

Angeal chose his words with care. “Genesis and I encountered a young man earlier today. He mentioned a ‘Zack’ but we weren’t sure if it was you. He’s currently unconscious from severe sleep deprivation and we don’t have a name or any identifying information, other than the fact that he’s wearing an infantry uniform.” He decided not to mention the mako eyes just yet.

“Blond?”

“Very.”

“Short?”

Angeal held a hand to where the teenager came up to compared to him and squinted at it. “Eh, roughly 5’5” or so?”

Zack was quiet, then said “I’ll be up in a minute,” and hung up. 

Angeal couldn’t quite decide if he hoped the teenager would turn out to be Zack’s missing trooper friend or not. On one hand, losing a friend was always hard and he wanted to spare his apprentice the pain of it. On the other, he could very easily imagine the absolute havoc Zack and the blond would wreak together, and he refused to even think about the amount of paperwork that would inevitably go along with that.

Although, they would probably end up as friends anyways now that he’d gotten Zack involved. The teenager was like a magnet for new friendships.  _ Shit. _

When Zack came jogging down the hall a few minutes later, his expression was unusually serious. He nodded silently to his mentor and went straight for the door. Angeal arched a brow at his behavior but obligingly swiped his keycard and allowed him in first.

Zack got all of two steps into the apartment before he spied the teenager on the couch and choked in a gasp.  _ “Cloud!” _ he cried, stumbling for a moment before he sprinted forward, hurdling the coffee table and falling to his knees to drape himself over the blond. “Holy shit, Cloud, oh  _ gods—” _

Well, that answered that question. “Zack, don’t wake—” Angeal started, but Genesis waved a hand and interrupted him.

“He won’t. I Sleepel’d him to make sure we wouldn’t have a repeat of earlier.” He was watching the interaction with keen interest. 

Zack was laughing and  _ crying, _ gathering the sleeping teenager up in his arms and holding like he never wanted to let go, forehead pressed to bare chest. Angeal narrowed his eyes a little. How had he never heard about this friend, if Zack was this deeply attached to him? His apprentice babbled so much that it seemed like an impossibility that he wouldn’t have mentioned ‘Cloud’ at all.

Unless he’d been  _ deliberately _ avoiding mentioning Cloud?

“I’m sorry kid, I’m so sorry,” Zack was whispering through the odd, choked laughs. “This is all my fault, isn’t it?”

_ What? _

“So he  _ is _ a friend of yours then, Zackary?” Sephiroth asked. He had the stoppered vial in one hand and an expression of muted confusion on his face.

Zack jolted at his voice, turning his head to the side enough to see Sephiroth. They would have to work more on situational awareness later, evidently. “Oh,” he said, clearing his throat. “Uh, yes. He’s a friend of mine. I thought he was dead.” His voice cracked, but he did seem to be calming down.

“His name is Cloud?” Genesis asked, probing. He had a knuckle to his lips, one elbow braced on the opposite hand.

“Cloud Strife,” Zack confirmed, looking back down at his friend. “He was aiming to be a...SOLDIER…” he trailed off, leaning closer to the blond’s bare chest. “How did he...how did he get these scars?”

Angeal’s lips pressed together, puzzled by the quiet rage in Zack’s voice. No—not by the rage. By the suddenness of it. By its intensity. And by the way Zack’s hand went to the smallish scar just over the teenager’s sternum, hovering like he was afraid to touch.

“You never saw them before?” Genesis asked, a keenly interested gleam in his eye. Angeal winced, familiar with that look. He was going to have to hide Zack from Genesis for a while, until he lost interest. It was  _ far _ too late for the blond, but he wasn’t about to let his apprentice get sucked into the Genesis Mystery Theater if he could help it.

Incredibly, Zack shot Genesis a suspicious look, curling over Cloud a little, as if he suspected  _ Genesis _ of scarring the kid. “He didn’t  _ have _ scars like these before.”

The three Firsts all frowned simultaneously. “Impossible. Some of those are years old,” said Sephiroth, eyes on the same scar Zack’s hand had been hovering over. 

“But he also didn’t have  _ any _ mako in him a few weeks ago,” Angeal told them grimly. This was all shaping up to be much more of a mess than he’d anticipated. Had they uncovered some kind of company conspiracy here? He knew of rumors that Science—Hojo, specifically—stole unsuspecting employees away in the dead of night, but he’d never given them much credence. A missing infantryman turning up with half-coherent references to “the Lab” and mako in his veins made him stop and consider the possibility that there was truth in those rumors after all.

Zack’s eyes went round at the news.  _ “What?” _ He thumbed open one of Cloud’s eyes, much like Genesis had earlier, and drew in a sharp breath as he saw the mako glow for himself. “Shit, kid,” he whispered. “What did they do to you?”

“He had yet to be inducted into SOLDIER? Are you certain?” Sephiroth confirmed, eyes narrowing dangerously. Whatever he suspected, he was not very pleased with it. Maybe he was thinking along the same lines Angeal was.

Zack was very still in a way that made the hairs on the back of Angeal’s arms stand on end. “Yes,” he whispered, an odd note to this voice. “I am  _ absolutely certain _ he wasn’t part of SOLDIER, Sephiroth.” 

Then he shook himself and looked up with a tight smile that didn’t reach his eyes, completely ignoring the other two Firsts. “Can you hand me the kit, ‘Geal? These need to be reopened.” He tapped the skin above an angry red laceration that had clearly healed closed around some kind of shrapnel. “Dumb kid. You gotta clean them out fast when you’re enhanced.”

“I can’t imagine he had a standard introduction to his enhancements,” Angeal said neutrally, retrieving the rest of the kit. His apprentice certainly had gotten quite skilled at medical care in the past few months, he mused as he watched Zack put another towel beneath Cloud’s arm and clean the area with antiseptic. Very skilled indeed. His hands were steady as he carefully reopened the wound and began plucking the shards of...metal?...out with tweezers, flushing the opened wound with saline every time he had to make another incision. 

Had he been hiding his injuries again? It was the only explanation he could think of.

Angeal glanced over at Sephiroth and Genesis, who looked equally as fascinated as they watched. Sephiroth caught his eye and quirked a brow. Angeal shook his head, and the other man frowned thoughtfully, pulling out his PHS.

There were only two major injuries that needed tending, the rest either freshly healed or well on their way to it. Silently, Angeal sat on his knees and assisted his protege, collecting the bloody shrapnel in a dish and handing Zack the implements he needed. After Zack finished casting the final Cura, the teenager wiped his bloodied hands on a towel and took a deep breath. He looked to Genesis. “I’m going to give him a bath, if that’s alright,” he said.

Angeal blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected Zack to be quite so... _ steady _ when speaking with Genesis for the first time, since Zack tended to be excitable at the best of times and downright hyper when meeting other First Class soldiers. His blond friend seemed to be having quite an effect on him.

How very,  _ very _ strange, for a friend he had never mentioned...

Genesis also looked a bit surprised, though for a different reason. “If you think he’d be comfortable with you doing that, then by all means. I hardly enjoy having my couch stained by dirty teenagers.”

And Zack looked...zoned out, completely oblivious to the scrutiny he was getting. Angeal might even have said he looked downright  _ miserable. _ “Right, thanks,” he mumbled, pulling the blanket off of Cloud’s legs and picking him up in much the same way Angeal had earlier. Genesis shot Angeal one last questioning look before leading the way to the master bathroom.

Angeal sighed and started cleaning up around the couch. Genesis would bitch about the mess if he didn’t. Maybe, he thought as he gathered up the several bloody towels, he was just naive for hoping that Zack would actually  _ clear up _ some of the mystery rather than leaving them with even more questions.

What a mess.


	5. Speculation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Firsts read through Cloud's file. Somehow, it doesn't answer a single question. Zack answers a few questions, but that, too, somehow manages to not answer any of their questions.

Genesis led the pair of teenagers  _ (one conscious, the other not, both increasingly intriguing) _ to his own en-suite bathroom. There was a second guest bathroom, but it lacked a bathtub and Genesis knew from experience how difficult it was to bathe an ill soldier without one. Normally he wouldn’t have offered his own private spaces up like this—he would have volunteered Angeal’s—but he found it a minor inconvenience compared to the delicious mystery the teenagers presented.

“Here we are,” he said, pushing the door open and standing back to let them enter. Young Zackary’s expression was still a little unfocused. “Do you need help?” Not that he particularly  _ wanted _ to help, but he was intrigued—just how many impossible scars had Cloud gained? Where? What kinds?

The look Zack shot him was downright distrustful, which made him suppress a smile. Smart boy.

“No, I’ve got it,” Zack said, setting Cloud down.

Genesis nodded agreeably. “Very well. Towels are under the sink. Use any of the soaps in the shower but leave my medicine cabinet alone. And I think it goes without saying that if I catch you snooping in my room…” he summoned some fire to his palm and let it crackle menacingly.

Surprisingly, Zack snorted a laugh. “I’ve heard about you and your fondness for dodge-fireball,” he said as he began to unlace Cloud’s right boot. “I’ll pass.”

“Hmm. Good.” Genesis left, shutting the bathroom door behind him—but not the bedroom door. With it open, they would still be able to hear most of what was going on, even from the living room.

Sephiroth and Angeal were standing together in front of the couch, reading from a PHS.  _ “Yes, _ I am certain it’s correct,” Sepiroth said in reply to something Genesis had missed. The barest trace of annoyance laced his tone. “This document version is from before he vanished. Even if the file was altered later, this version would not have been.”

“But still,” Angeal said,  _ “fourteen? _ The kid’s  _ fourteen _ and he managed to get the drop on us?”

Genesis couldn’t decide whether or not he was offended by that fact as he joined the huddle over the PHS and began perusing Cloud Strife’s file. On one hand, it was humiliating, being surprised by a  _ child _ like that. On the other, Cloud had clearly gained some kind of intel or ability that they were just barely starting to scratch the surface of. He’d managed to solve a problem that he shouldn’t have known existed, much less had the resources to fix. It didn’t matter what his file said—he was not even remotely what he appeared to be.

What a marvelous enigma.

Zack had finished running a bath by the time they reached the end of the file. His voice was constant, but too low to make out his words. The tone, though, was alternately encouraging or deeply apologetic. The file didn’t add any new clues as to  _ why _ he seemed to blame himself for Cloud’s disappearance, unfortunately.

“His initial test scores were good for his age and size,” Sephiroth commented, reaching the end of the commentary from the instructors. “Why was he denied—ah. Mako sensitivity.”

Angeal winced. “He wouldn’t have gotten in with anything less than prodigy-level scores considering that. Too much risk.”

“And yet here he is, enhanced to impossible levels and somehow not in a coma,” said Genesis archly, then amended, “well, not in a  _ mako  _ coma at least.”

“It is possible,” Sephiroth said slowly, scrutinizing the details of the teenager’s mako-sensitivity report, “that he was... _ selected _ for testing a less standard enhancement process because of his sensitivity.”

Angeal blanched, the poor honorable thing. “I—even if he volunteered, doing this much in a few weeks is reckless! He could have died!”

Genesis clicked his tongue. “Angeal, my dear friend, I  _ highly _ doubt that the boy underwent this voluntarily, considering that his aversion to the word ‘doctor’ transcended absolute unconsciousness.”

“You think someone is working below-board?” Angeal asked, shamelessly clinging to his last shred of optimism.

Genesis had no compunctions about shredding his childhood best friend’s endearing faith in the rule of law within Shinra. “Were I a betting man, I would say Hojo did this. Hollander is too incompetent.” He sneered at the thought. And to think he’d been desperate enough to plan on going to the sniveling little man about his shoulder.  _ Feh! _

Angeal looked to Sephiroth, who blinked and inclined his head, agreeing with Genesis’s assessment. Angeal sighed in resignation. “Right. And now that you're interested and I'm uncomfortably aware that I should have been paying more attention, I suppose we're going to get to the bottom of this."

Genesis grinned, sharklike. "Naturally. Though, given the nature of our introduction to dear, darling little Cloud Strife, I suspect he may be attempting to beat us to the punch on that front."

“Speaking of which,” Angeal said, turning the full force of his stern scrutiny on Genesis, “why did I have to find out from that same  _ dear, darling little Cloud Strife _ that you were ill to the point of needing a ‘miracle healing,’  _ Genesis? _ ”

“It’s hardly important now,” he dismissed, waving a red-gloved hand. “My shoulder hadn’t quite healed was all.” Sephiroth instantly looked guilty, in his weird repressed way, which was exactly what Genesis had been  _ trying _ to avoid.

“Oh, is that all,” Angeal drawled, not buying his bullshit for even a second. “You should have told us, Gen! What if something had happened on a mission!”

“Well it’s fine  _ now,” _ he responded, growing irritated. “I don’t need a second mother, Angeal Hewley! I was handling it!”

“Handling it by letting a rogue science experiment solve the problem for you?”

“Don’t be a smartass, I hardly knew  _ that  _ was going to happen. If you must know, I had planned on informing Hollander tomorrow.” He clicked his tongue, briefly turning his ear toward the bathroom. The tub was draining. “I owe Cloud a great deal just for getting me out of that conversation, nevermind the actual healing.”

“Was it infected?” Sephiroth asked, staring down at the vial in his hands with a little puzzled furrow between his brows.

Genesis hesitated. “I’m…not sure. At the very least, it wasn’t healing.”

Sephiroth held the vial up to the light, inspecting it, then unstoppered the top and wafted a bit of its scent toward his nose with the expertise of a chemist. His frown deepened. He wafted again, then gave up and held the vial directly up to his nose. He looked at them and shook his head. “Nothing. It smells like water. Perhaps purer than most water available in Midgar, but I cannot detect anything chemical or biological.”

Angeal rubbed his chin. “How did Cloud know at all? And why did he want us all to drink? Nothing’s wrong with me, and I didn’t feel any different after.”

“Perhaps…” Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, re-capping the vial and tucking it into his coat, “perhaps we share whatever factor prevented Genesis’s shoulder from healing properly. Hm. Cloud was—must have been—in a lab recently. It is possible he uncovered something there while he was escaping. Information Shinra did not deign to share with us. Perhaps he found this ‘Healer’ he mentioned. There are numerous possibilities.”

“Then how did  _ Zack _ know?” Genesis asked, exasperated. The more information they got, the more questions seemed to arise.

“How did I know what?”

The three Firsts startled a little, so caught up in their speculation that they’d missed Zack emerging from the bathroom with Cloud in his arms. The blond was still out cold, enveloped in one of Genesis’s luxurious towels so that only his face and lower legs were visible. Free of grime and with some color back in his face, he finally looked his age.

* * *

Zack arched a brow, head cocking to the side a little, like a puppy. “Well?”

Angeal took the lead. “Zack, did you know—hm. Did you ask Cloud to do you a favor in regards to us?”

“Uh,” said Zack, confusion deepening, “Geal, I thought he was  _ dead _ until today. How could I have asked him for a favor?”

The Firsts looked between themselves. “Did you know I was injured recently?” Genesis asked, looked at Zack carefully. 

This time, recognition flashed in his eyes. He looked down, hesitating, then smiled sheepishly. “I uh...yessir, I did. I didn’t tell anyone though, I swear.”

Genesis was genuinely taken aback by his answer. How the  _ hell _ had these two whelps figured it out when neither Angeal nor Sephiroth,  _ his best friends, _ had? “How?” he asked, not bothering to disguise his astonishment.

“Well, it’s uh—” his shoulder rolled up like he wanted to raise a hand, except his arms were busy holding his friend. “It’s...kind of obvious, I guess? You were uh...babying it. Just a little. And your pauldron on that side was a little offset, probably because you had a bandage there?”

He knew where the injury had been. That was proof enough, but Genesis’s eyes narrowed a little in suspicion. His knowledge of Zack was secondhand through Angeal, but something still felt off about the teenager’s answer. Was he lying? Hiding something?

Zack coughed a little. “Anyway,” he said, “I’m gonna take Cloud back to my apartment.”

“Absolutely not,” Genesis said immediately. There was no way in  _ hell _ that anyone was removing the blond from his sight until he got answers. He didn’t even care if President Shinra himself asked, on this he was not going to budge an inch.

“Ah, he needs clothes though, sir,” Zack argued, frowning at him. “I already asked Ku—a friend to get the stuff that was gonna be mailed back to his Ma.”

“No,” Genesis said, crossing his arms. “Go get them and come back, if you must. Otherwise I’ll lend him some of my own clothing.”

Zack narrowed his eyes, holding Cloud protectively to his chest, as if he suspected some nefarious scheme to steal the boy away. Which, admittedly, he wasn’t entirely wrong about. “I’d rather just take him somewhere he’d actually feel  _ safe _ waking up,  _ sir.” _

Angeal quickly stepped in. “Alright, alright, both of you simmer down,” he said. “Zack, I’ll go get his stuff from your apartment and you can stay with him here, okay? It would be better if you didn’t walk the halls carrying him like that anyway.”

“...okay,” Zack agreed at length, suspicion lingering in the set of his mouth. Genesis frowned. He thought Zack trusted Angeal implicitly. Was his friend just mistaken about his student, or...was Cloud just  _ that _ important to Zack? Important enough to make him wary of  _ everyone? _

“Great,” Angeal sighed, running a hand through his hair. He glanced once at the still-unconscious blond. “I’ll be right back then.” He leveled all three of them (four, if you counted Cloud) with a stern look.  _ “No _ fighting while I’m gone, got it?”

“Yes,  _ mother,” _ Genesis said with a vicious eye roll as Zack and Seph nodded agreeably. Pansies. It was almost— _ almost— _ enough to make him pick a fight on principle, but he decided to restrain himself.

After all, it would be much more enlightening to stir up some strife  _ (ha!) _ once Cloud was awake to join in, now wouldn’t it?


	6. Squabbling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack and Genesis squabble while Sephiroth spectates and thinks a great many thoughts. The theme of no questions _actually_ being answered continues unbroken.

Sephiroth had very little idea what to think about all of this. Genesis (and possibly Angeal) had been cured of some mysterious...autoimmune disorder, perhaps? Cured by a hypercompetent assailant who turned out to be a probably-illicitly-enhanced fourteen-year-old Infantryman whose miraculous healing potion was...water. This same Infantryman was apparently friends with Angeal’s protégé, who himself was suddenly and incautiously displaying skills that he, by all rights, should have lacked.

Sephiroth was a good strategist, both on the battlefield and off. It was ingrained in him to consider all possible outcomes and to plan several steps in advance for even mundane scenarios. But  _ this? _ He found it unnervingly difficult to plan in the face of so much unknown information. It was a combinatorial problem. Without knowing the probabilities of different outcomes—without  _ knowing the possible outcomes _ —thinking even one or two steps out involved an incomprehensible number of scenarios.

He found that he didn’t much like it.

Zack set Cloud down on the sofa, then perched by his head on the sofa’s arm. Barely thirty seconds of fidgeting later he picked Cloud back up and sat down so that the blond was propped up against his chest. That was understandable, at least in a theoretical sense—Zack had thought his friend was dead and wanted physical contact to reassure himself he was alive and well.

“So, Zack,” Genesis said conversationally, though the predatory slant of his eyes gave his true intentions away. He crossed one leg over the other and lounged back in the armchair like a king surveying his domain. “How did you and Cloud meet?”

Zack didn’t look like he was fooled even a little bit, which was very interesting. If Angeal was to be believed, his protégé tended to be either oblivious or deliberately optimistic about other people’s intentions, not suspicious. “I just...started talking to him. He looked like he needed a friend,” he said.

Vague. Utterly useless as a clue, since Cloud’s file had included several notes about his mild social isolation.

“Oh?” Genesis asked. “What made you think that?”

Zack just shrugged. “Dunno. What made you want to be friends with Sephiroth?”

Sephiroth blinked at the question, but Genesis barely paused. “Who else would I have been friends with?”

Well,  _ that _ was a lie. Genesis had taken one look at Sephiroth and decided  _ rival, _ all those years ago when they had first met in Wutai. It had only been by Angeal’s unyielding patience that his teenaged ego had deflated enough to allow for a friendship to form. Though...Genesis did have something of a selective memory. He probably believed what he was saying.

“Who else would I have been friends with except Cloud?” Zack echoed archly.

Genesis rolled his eyes. “Quite literally everyone, Zackary. Your inherent friendliness isn’t exactly a secret.”

Zack looked like he was resisting the urge to stick his tongue out, holding Cloud a little closer to his chest. “I’m  _ friendly _ with everyone, not  _ friends _ with everyone. There’s a difference.”

“Well, what made Cloud different, then? Honestly, there is no need to be so defensive. It’s a harmless question.”

That one was  _ definitely _ a lie. Sephiroth glanced at Genesis from the corner of his eye. The redhead was in quite a mood today. Sephiroth might even have felt sorry for Zack and Cloud, had Genesis’s keen interest in them not meant a reprieve for basically the entire SOLDIER department.

“Nothing,” Zack said. “He just looked lonely and I was there. That’s all.”

_ Lie. _ Sephiroth glanced down at the unconscious blond. Clearly,  _ something _ had drawn them together—something Zack wasn’t willing to admit. Perhaps...something he worried might get him or his little friend in trouble? Something like…

“Were you romantically involved?” Sephiroth asked bluntly.

Zack blanched immediately, a revolted expression crossing his face. “Were we— _ NO!” _ he made an exaggerated gagging noise, shielding Cloud from Sephiroth as if the man’s words were a physical threat. “Gross, dude, he’s like my little brother! And he’s  _ fourteen! _ Eew!”

Unequivocally not a lie, though that just raised the question of what Zack was withholding, if not romantic attraction. Sephiroth sat back in his chair, head cocking slightly. “I apologize. I did not mean to offend you.”

Genesis hummed, amused, and immediately prodded at the bristling young SOLDIER. “No need to be shy, Zackary,” he said in a tone just a hair shy of outright condescending. “A two-year age gap isn’t exactly grounds for accusations of predatory behavior. And you do seem to like...touching him.” He leered.

Zack looked blank for a split second, as if surprised by something in Genesis’s statement, before his scowl deepened.  _ “No. _ Just...no! I don’t like him like that, he doesn’t like me like that. No. He’s my little brother, end of story.”

“Alright, if you say so,” Genesis said with obvious disbelief, splaying his hands in mock surrender.

In response to the continued needling, Zack hunkered down like a sulky child and muttered, “you Midgar people are the weird ones. No one in Gongaga would assume... _ things _ just because I’m hugging him.”

So he  _ did _ understand how his behavior was being perceived. He just didn’t care, which did fit what Sephiroth knew of him. The brash student Angeal described certainly didn’t seem like someone who would care what people thought of him. But that, as far as Sephiroth was concerned, just made his avoidance of Genesis’s question all the more intriguing. Had there been something unique to Cloud even  _ before _ he had vanished? Enough to draw Zack’s attention and keep it?

"We’re gonna go home for vacation and my mom is going to adopt him and then no one will ever be able to say that ever again," Zack continued griping, apparently to himself. Jarringly intense grief flashed across his face for a split second. His grip on Cloud tightened, enough that the blond shifted and grumbled in his sleep. “Shoot,” he whispered, relaxing his arms, “sorry, bud.”

Everyone was silent for a long moment. Genesis looked thoughtful, Zack looked subdued, and Sephiroth was busy trying to puzzle out what about Cloud might have caught Zack’s attention in the first place—there was a very good chance it might also have been what had caught the Scientists’ attention.

Then, Zack blinked, coming back to himself, and raised his head. “Hey wait a second, why are you even interested in Cloud at all? Seph...iroth I can understand, because of—” he made a vague gesture to everything, which explained nothing— “you know, but why do  _ you _ care about a random missing Infantry grunt?”

“He fixed my shoulder,” said Genesis casually, which was so unexpected that it took Sephiroth a few seconds to process. He looked askance at his friend, turning half in his chair to face him. Why the hell was Genesis revealing something so personal so quickly? It wasn’t like him at—oh. Genesis’s gaze was intent on Zack’s face, searching for even the slightest incriminating response. It was a tactic—a small sacrifice for what Genesis no doubt hoped was a greater gain. 

Unfortunately for Genesis, Zack just looked blank, then confused. “...he what?”

“Fixed my shoulder. You know, that injury you noticed?”

Zack looked blank again, this time with incomprehension and a little disbelief. “How’d he manage  _ that?” _

Curious. Did that tone imply that Zack knew such a thing was very difficult? Or was it merely an assessment of Cloud's lack of medical knowledge?

“With water, evidently from a mysterious healer.”

Again, nothing like recognition flashed through Zack's eyes. "...huh," he said at length, glancing between Genesis and Cloud. "I...guess that would do it?"

Genesis's lip curled at the odd but wholly unrevealing phrasing. "What do you  _ mean _ you guess that would do it!" he said, exasperated.

“Well,” said Zack, freeing one hand to scratch at the back of his head, “I mean, obviously materia wasn’t working because you couldn’t fix it yourself, so, you know, a mysterious healer would be the solution, right?”

Sephiroth stared. Genesis stared. Zack looked increasingly sheepish at his own logic.

“I give up,” Genesis finally said, tossing his head back in defeat. “I shall just wait for Cloud’s return to consciousness to get my answers.”

“Hey,” Zack said, frowning, “leave Cloud alone!”

“No,” said Genesis.

“Yes,” Zack countered, glaring, “he’s already been through enough and I’m not going to let you torture him!”

“Goddess, must you be so dramatic?”  _ (Said the pot to the kettle, _ Sephiroth thought privately.) “If I wanted to torture him I’d have left him in the infirmary, not allowed  _ you _ to bathe him in  _ my own home!” _

Thankfully, their building argument was interrupted by Angeal’s timely return as he came in through the front door with a duffle bag over one shoulder. He took in the scene, eyes narrowed shrewdly. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked mildly, coming over to toss the bag down by Cloud’s feet.

“No,” Zack said stiffly, maneuvering to sling the bag over his arm and lift Cloud at the same time. “Not at all. I’m going to get some clothes on him and then we’re  _ leaving.” _

“The hell you are!” Genesis snapped. “That boy owes me answers and I am not letting him out of my sight until I get them!”

“If he healed you then he doesn’t owe you a thing, especially after what he’s been through!” Zack snarled in response. “Just you try to use him,  _ just try it, _ and I’ll make you regret it! I don’t care who you think you are!”

_ “Zackary Fair and Genesis Rhapsodos!” _ Angeal interjected, a thunderous disapproval in his voice that made both stop in their tracks. “Both of you stop arguing over that boy like he’s some kind of bone and you’re two starving dogs!” Zack flinched, but Genesis just puffed up like an offended bird. Angeal didn’t give him a chance to respond, though, turning to his protege. 

“Look, Zack,” he said, “Cloud is KIA, officially. You can’t just go waltzing around with him before we deal with this. That means that yes, he does have to stay close for a bit. However,  _ Genesis—” _ he cast a severe look to his friend— “Cloud doesn’t have to stay  _ here. _ And since you both seem incapable of acting like civilized adults,  _ I  _ will be taking him until we get this sorted,  _ got it?” _

And again, Sephiroth noted with interest how Zack was watching his mentor with mild distrust and an odd sort of hurt to the set of his brows. Where was the shining admiration he’d heard so much about?

“Cloud doesn’t need—” he started to argue, but Angeal cut him off.

“Zack, this is the best way to keep Science from getting their hands on him again.”

The young SOLDIER opened his mouth and then shut it. Defeat and...shame? crossed his face. “Right,” he said tiredly. “Okay. I’ll just…”

“Use the guest bedroom,” Genesis said, looking somewhat mollified at Zack’s defeat. The intense, calculating curiosity had also returned to his eyes. He gestured with one hand. “That way.”

Zack nodded silently and vanished into the guest room.

Sephiroth decided his involvement could end for now. Clearly, no answers would be forthcoming from Zack, and Cloud was due to sleep for many hours yet. Angeal had the situation well in hand, so he didn’t have to worry about any  _ (more) _ paperwork-worthy incidents in the immediate future. So he stood, nodding to both his friends and double-checking the vial in his pocket. “Inform me if anything happens,” he said, and left.

The most straightforward way to test the ‘water’ would be to commandeer part of Hojo’s labs. He had the necessary equipment, and Sephiroth had essentially unlimited access. Unfortunately, doing so would almost certainly attract the greasy man’s attention, and that was not something Sephiroth particularly wanted to deal with.

Less straightforwardly, the Turks had their own forensics lab, and Tseng owed him a favor. Getting the Turks even peripherally involved wasn’t ideal, but it was far more palatable than dealing with Hojo, especially if he had somehow been involved in Cloud’s illicit enhancement. Sephiroth pulled out his PHS and dialed the Tseng’s number. 

Whatever there was to find, Sephiroth would find it. After all, there was no way it could just be water, right?


	7. Genesis Causes Problems on Purpose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloud wakes up; Angeal manages to pry one answer free of the enigma that is Cloud Strife; Genesis does something that _must_ have involved illegal activity; Sephiroth experiences the beginning of a crisis

Cloud woke up, which was a little strange since he didn’t remember going to sleep in the first place. He stared blearily up at the darkened, unfamiliar ceiling. What had he been doing? Something important. Something...was this the explosions plan or the kidnapping plan? No, wait, he’d already done the kidnapping plan.

Hadn’t he?

_Degradation,_ the voice that sounded like Tifa reminded him helpfully.

_Right._ He’d been fixing the Commanders’ degradation as Zack asked—begged, really, because Cloud didn’t particularly care. But the guy _had_ died for him, so assaulting two First Class SOLDIERs in broad daylight was really the least Cloud could do in return.

_Yeah, and how’d that go, dumbass,_ asked the voice that sounded like himself back when he thought he was Zack.

_Hey, it worked didn’t it!_ Zack-voice said heatedly.

“It did work,” Cloud mumbled in agreement, which was technically true even if the Commanders had then dragged him back to the Tower like an extremely ill-advised choice of hostage. He sat up, rubbing at his eyes, and realized that he felt...weirdly clean, and comfortable, and warm, none of which had really been high on his list of priorities since he’d been unceremoniously stuffed into his old body like Palmer into a suit two sizes too optimistic. He patted at his chest, surprised to find that all the small wounds he’d been ignoring were gone and someone had put him in an old grey tee.

It couldn’t have been either of the Commanders, could it? Why would they bother?

Cloud tossed the heavy duvet off his legs, equally surprised to find a tatty old pair of sweatpants that he... _thought_ used to be his, way back before Nibelheim and Hojo and all that mess. It made him pause, head swimming, but the memory didn’t get any clearer.

_Focus,_ Zack whispered.

Right. He stood, swaying a little, and stumbled out of the small room. He didn’t recognize the apartment, which he definitely would have if he’d ever been there before, because it was _covered_ in plants. He couldn’t hear anyone, though he thought someone might have been in the neighboring apartment. They were humming absently.

He put a hand to his head. Where was he? And why? He remembered...hadn’t they been taking him to one of the doctors? Science...no. Sephiroth had been there. And now he was alone in an apartment for some reason?

Of course, then Cloud’s stomach growled _loudly_ and he lost that entire train of thought in favor of a different one. He was unsupervised in an apartment that had a _very_ solid shot of having a fully-stocked pantry. It had been a long, long time since he’d had more than scraps. Without an ounce of shame, and poked around until he found the kitchen and gleefully opened the fridge.

It was full to bursting. The grin that crossed his face was so wide it hurt.

He might have lost track of his surroundings as he sat against the cabinets next to the sink and devoured several containers of cold leftovers, too hungry to bother heating them up first. They were utterly delicious, even compared to a normal hot meal. Who the hell could _cook_ like this?

_“Cloud?”_

He startled, leg jerking into the stack of empty containers and knocking it over with a loud clatter. Hewley was standing in the doorway, blinking at him in shock. Well, that answered that question, though it raised a lot more.

“...hey,” Cloud said lamely. It came out a little muffled around the fork.

“How are you _awake?”_ the Commander asked with an odd twist to his lips, walking forward enough to drop two armfuls of bags onto the kitchen table. “You’ve only been asleep for four hours.”

Cloud stared. _“Four_ hours?” he asked in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure,” Hewley said dryly, rounding the table to crouch by Cloud. “You should have slept for ten hours minimum.” He looked at the stack—pile, now—of empty dishes and arched a brow. “Stomach wake you up?”

Cloud was still staring into the middle distance, reeling at the thought of _four_ hours of dreamless sleep. “Um.”

Hewley sighed. “Finish eating and then you’re going back to bed.”

“Huh?” Cloud blinked at him, finally lowing the fork from his mouth. “No, I’m fine now. Four hours is more than enough.” _Way_ more than enough.

The man’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline in disbelief. A look of realization crossed his face. He sighed and bent in a sort of stilted movement bury his face in one hand. “I—no. No, Cloud, it’s really, _really_ not enough. Did anyone ever explain exactly how mako alters your body’s needs and capabilities?”

Cloud opened his mouth to say yes, but...no, actually. He’d just kind of...woken up enhanced, and none of Zack’s memories had really filled in the gaps. There was a certain instinct about what to do, of course, based on normal human body functions. It wasn’t like his stomach stopped growling or anything. But if Hewley was saying it like _that_ then maybe he’d missed out on something vital.

Cloud closed his mouth with a click.

Hewley drew in another deep breath, raising his head and turning his eyes to the ceiling as if he was begging the gods for strength. “Yeah, I thought so. Kid, mako enhancement is...not strictly biological. You may need less sleep when you’re out in the field, under stress, but as soon as you’re out of danger? You need _more_ sleep than an unenhanced person. More sleep, more food, more maintenance. It’s a trade-off.”

Cloud stared. Oh. _Ooooooh._ That...made a lot of sense, actually. And explained some things. A lot of things. A sheepish grimace slowly crossed his face. _Oops._ He felt the sudden urge to apologize to...all of AVALANCHE, basically.

“Yeah,” Hewley said, watching the realization dawn. “So. You’re going to finish what you’re eating and go back to bed.” It wasn’t a suggestion. He stood, effectively ending the discussion, and started dealing with the bags he’d left on the table.

Cloud slowly ate another forkful of the _(fucking delicious)_ leftovers, thinking hard. Privately, he decided he wouldn’t be going back to sleep even if he started feeling tired again by some miracle. It wasn’t like he was actually ‘out of the field,’ so to speak. 

But he _had_ assaulted Hewley, and whatever the motivation for kitting him out like a guest instead of tossing him to the Turks or to Medical, he doubted he would be allowed to just get up and leave. Better to smile and nod and then vanish when they turned their backs.

So he stretched his legs out in front of him, and flexed the stiffness from his toes, and continued eating without a single complaint.

He didn’t even make it through the rest of the bowl before he was out cold.

* * *

Angeal froze as Cloud’s vitals suddenly plunged for the second time in less than twelve hours. It was only the memory of the first time that allowed him to calmly set down the groceries he was sorting and check on the idiot teenager he’d been saddled with. Cloud was dead to the world against the cabinets, head tilted back awkwardly and mouth slack as the fork and container threatened to slip from his grasp. When Angeal triple-checked his pulse, pulling off a glove and setting his fingertips on the side of Cloud’s neck, it was strong and even.

Angeal sat back on his haunches and looked hard at Cloud. He shouldn’t have collapsed that quickly—or at least, he shouldn’t have unless he was in a much rougher state than Angeal originally thought.

Or unless he was more enhanced than Angeal had assumed. Enhanced beyond Second. Enhanced beyond _First._ One of Genesis’s offhanded comments from earlier stuck in his mind: _Look, come see his eyes. They have so much mako that there’s green in them._

Carefully, remembering how Cloud had woken up when Sephiroth had done the same, he thumbed one eye open. The iris was a much brighter blue now, after food and sleep and medical attention, with shining green threads winding around his ciliary ring. The glow seemed to be getting stronger even as he watched.

He withdrew his hand and sighed deeply. Of course the idiot teenager who’d never had a proper introduction to his enhancements would somehow be pumped full of enough mako to rival Sephiroth. And of course he’d been actively pushing his limits by not sleeping or eating or cleaning out his wounds properly.

Forget the past few weeks—how had Cloud survived the first few _days?_ He was adapting both freakishly well _(not a single one of Angeal’s dishes had been broken, for a start)_ and catastrophically badly.

And now all this mess was Angeal’s problem. The meanest, pettiest part of him wondered if he could sneakily pass Cloud back off to Genesis. Luckily, his honor was far stronger than his pettiness—he didn’t want the kid _dead._

It was still tempting. Genesis deserved to try and sort this out himself.

Angeal took the bowl and fork from Cloud’s slack hands and gathered up the rest of the dishes while he was at it, dumping everything into the sink for later. He hauled Cloud up and returned him to the guest bedroom, all without the kid so much as twitching at the change. He was just going back to putting away the groceries when his front door opened and a familiar pair of heels clicked across the threshold.

“Angeal, my friend, I’ve done us all a very impressive favor!” Genesis sang as he strutted in, pleased as a peacock.

Angeal tilted his head back and resisted the urge to immediately toss his childhood best friend out on his ass, just for a few minutes without another crisis to handle. “Genesis, don’t I already have enough to deal with?”

Genesis tsk’d at him, smiling like the cat who got the cream. “Such a pessimist. I went out of my way to solve problems and do expedited paperwork and this is the thanks I get?”

A chill went down Angeal’s spine. Genesis, voluntarily doing paperwork? That could only mean trouble of the catastrophic interdepartmental variety. He dropped the groceries and rounded on him. _“What did you do?”_

Genesis looked somewhere between smug and gleeful. “I paid a visit to Lazard and a few other people to arrange things is all. You’ll be pleased to know that ‘Cloud Strife’ is now _not_ KIA and has been enlisted as a Third in the SOLDIER program.”

Angeal could feel his hands creeping up toward Genesis’s neck. That was all bad enough—he’d no doubt done _something_ highly illegal to make it happen so quickly—but Angeal knew the unholy gleam in his eye. “And what else?” he demanded, a sinking feeling in his gut. _He wouldn’t dare to do something as stupid as…?_

He got a grin in response. “Well...I may have a new apprentice.”

_HE HAD._

Suddenly it was no longer two mature, responsible First Class SOLDIERs having a conversation in the kitchen—it was a pissed-off twenty-something man and his idiotic best friend. _“GENESIS RHAPSODOS!”_ Angeal lunged, intent on a good strangling. Genesis cackled, dodging, and bolted for the door with Angeal chasing after him. “GET BACK HERE!”

“Quiet, Ange, you’ll wake Cloud!” Genesis called over his shoulder.

_“I’ll show you quiet!”_

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

The door slammed shut behind them.

* * *

In the guest room, Cloud mumbled something, burrowed deeper under the covers, and continued sleeping.

* * *

Several floors down, Sephiroth was having something of a crisis as he stared at the innocent-looking vial of theoretically-just-water in his hand. Every test was coming back with the exact same assessment: water. Normal, pure, neutral pH water. No additives. Only the barest traces of the usual minerals that drinking water contained. He stared into it, taking in the completely normal way it refracted the light across his black glove, and willed it to reveal its secrets.

Sephiroth knew the placebo effect was real and powerful, but it relied on the subject actually believing the placebo material _had_ an effect. Genesis certainly hadn’t believed so, and even if he had a placebo couldn’t cure something like a wound that refused to heal. Get rid of the pain, maybe, but actually _close_ a flesh wound in seconds? No.

Impossible. Purely and utterly impossible.

So there _had_ to be something in the vial that the standard tests were missing. There was an answer here, an anomaly, and Sephiroth was going to _find it._ He tucked the vial back in his coat pocket and pulled out his PHS. It would take some research first to compile an appropriate list of less-common tests to run, but with the right preparation it wouldn’t be long until he solved this infuriating mystery and finally got the answers he, Genesis, and Angeal all sorely needed.

* * *

**Bonus:**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> [ Come join me on Tumblr for illustrations and updates (and FF7 shitposts)](https://aimeelouart.tumblr.com/)   
> 


End file.
